Like fellow Canadian singers Gil Grand and Paul Brandt, George Canyon studied pre-med before he was drawn to a career in country music. He even spent time as a hospital orderly, among his other odd jobs, but a foray into musical theater at school led to a change of plans. During his years at Nova Scotia's St. Francis Xavier University in the early '90s, the singer/songwriter was auditioning for a production when members of a local rock group heard him singing. The band, Branded, decided they'd found the country-sounding vocalist they had been looking for and invited him on tour. The music bug bit Canyon hard, and for several years he never looked back. Canyon performed in the Calgary region of Alberta, where he met the woman who would become his wife. When they wed in 1994, he stepped away from his musical aspirations and returned with her to Nova Scotia.